Simple choice: Gym or doctor

Vinita turned 40 last year. And is having the worst time of her life. ‘‘I have aches and pains in muscles and joints I never knew existed till a few years ago. Never very active, I tend to get tired more easily but can't even sleep as peacefully as I used to. There are huge pores on my face and I've even developed a paunch,'' she fumes, demonstrating one of her now-common mood swings.Vinita is not the only one. Her husband Dhruv (46) went through the grind a few years ago. Now a regular at the gym, he swears by his workout.
‘‘The bodies of men and women are drastically different. And after 40, hormonal changes in both lead to specific ailments,'' says Dr Som Tugnait, physician and fitness expert. ‘‘From hair and hearing to memory and muscle, aging depletes them all. If you want to slow the aging process and live a longer healthier life, exercise in general and resistance and cardio-vascular exercises in particular are great for slowing these losses,'' he adds.
Over 40 and suffering from a backache? ‘‘This is a direct result of bone layers getting depleted,'' says Dr S K S Marya, director (orthopaedics) at Max Healthcare. ‘‘As we age, the body begins to have a negative calcium balance. The muscles weaken and all the load is shifted on to the ligaments. Backache is the most common result of these problems. With these degenerative changes, the bones tend to rub against each other - a condition that may lead to osteoarthritis at a later age,'' Marya adds.
You are what you eat. Especially after 40. ‘‘Metabolism becomes much slower after 40,'' says nutritionist Shikha Sharma. ‘‘The stomach bloats due to gas and acidity, stress makes the liver weak and cholesterol shoots up. In women, the skin tends to sag. Hair fall is common in both sexes, as is the emergence of a paunch.''
Gynaecologist Sheela Mehra feels 40 is not very old for women, but closer to 45 they come into the ‘peri-menopausal' bracket. ‘‘A dip in oestrogen levels causes mood swings, makes the skin dull and the body flabby. Women are usually crabby when all this happens. But all these changes are normal and can be minimised by staying active, eating healthy and being positive about life,'' says the senior consultant from Moolchand Medicity.
‘‘Women in midlife face many changes, such as children growing up, returning to the workforce, or retiring from it. Then there are the physical changes: crow's feet, saggy arms, an expanding waistline,” writes Ann Kearney-Cooke, the author of Change Your Mind,Change.
Your Body: Feeling Good About Your Body and Self After 40. But there's always help at hand, she adds. “The transformations within us and around us can leave us feeling anxious, ineffective, and out of control, especially in a culture that defines midlife as the beginning of a decline. It's easy to look at our lives and ourselves and wish we could turn back the clock, but it doesn't have to be that way.''